Last night, while I was in the Toronto office, I came across an innovative Meltwater use case that I knew the community would find interesting, looking at you ​@Maria Dehne. With Taylor oSwift] Fever sweeping the city, one of our employees faced the heartbreak of being scammed out of their concert tickets. But rather than letting disappointment win, they turned to Meltwater to track and respond to last-minute Ticketmaster drops. By leveraging Meltwater’s capabilities strategically, transformed their frustration into a success story.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to how they did it—and how you can use these strategies to enhance your own monitoring efforts.

Step 1: Research Relevant Keywords and Trends

Effective monitoring starts with understanding the topic and identifying key trends. Using Meltwater’s Explore Search, they:

1. Searched for mentions of Taylor Swift ticket drops, looking for patterns in keywords and phrasing.
2. Analyzed trusted sources by identifying accounts and fan pages that reliably posted about ticket availability.

💡 Tip: When researching, focus on:

• Keywords: Look for recurring terms, hashtags, and phrasing patterns. In this case, phrases like “go,” “tickets,” “N4,” “N5,” and concert dates emerged as crucial.
• Sources: Pay attention to who is posting. Verified accounts or those with consistent updates are often more reliable than general chatter.

Step 2: Craft a Boolean Search

Use the insights from your research to create a precise Boolean query. This ensures your Meltwater monitoring is both comprehensive and targeted. For this use case, the Boolean search included:

• Keywords identified earlier, such as “Taylor Swift,” “tickets,” “N4,” “N5,” and variations of “ticket drop.”
• Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine terms effectively and filter out irrelevant mentions.

💡 Tip: Take advantage of Meltwater’s Boolean builder to refine your search. The goal is to capture relevant mentions without overwhelming yourself with noise

Step 3: Narrow Your Search with an Author List

After building their Boolean query, they enhanced its accuracy by adding an author list filter to my search. This step filters the search to just include specific accounts I’ve identified in Step 1 as credible:

1. Included four trusted X (formerly Twitter) accounts that consistently posted drop updates.
2. Added well-known fan pages that monitored ticket availability.

💡 Tip: An author list is a powerful way to focus on credible sources. Use it when you need to filter out general mentions and hone in on expert voices or reliable information. You can create author lists for journalists, industry influencers, or thought leaders relevant to your monitoring goals.

Step 4: Set Up Smart Alerts

The final step was to ensure they would never miss a drop by setting up Smart Alerts:

1. Configured alerts to trigger on every mention matching their query.
2. Delivered notifications directly to their email for instant updates, ensuring they were always in the know—even during work hours.

💡 Tip: Smart Alerts are invaluable for time-sensitive monitoring. To get the most out of them:

• Set up alerts for high-priority mentions where quick action is required.
• Combine with author lists to focus notifications on the most credible and relevant sources.

The Results

Thanks to the Smart Alerts, they never missed a single drop. The real-time alerts kept them ahead of the competition.

This workflow can be applied to almost any monitoring challenge, including:

• Tracking industry trends.
• Monitoring competitor activity.
• Managing crisis communications.
• Staying on top of event updates.

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How to Apply This Framework to Your Work

Think about the challenges you’re facing or the opportunities you want to seize. Start by asking yourself:

• What key terms or trends do I need to monitor?
• Who are the trusted voices or sources in my industry?
• How can I automate alerts to act quickly when needed?

Have you used Meltwater in a creative way? Share your experience in the comments! Let’s continue learning and inspiring one another to think outside the box and maximize the value of this powerful tool.